Prompts
by Ravyntree
Summary: Short writing clips that may be made into full stories at a future date.
1. Chapter 1

Prompts~

1.0

'The clouds above moved closer, looking so dissatisfied.' ~LP

I don't remember the last time I thought about him. Not that I have any reason to in my life, now, but really, I should have believed he would have crossed my mind, perhaps at least once. At least. But he hasn't. Until now. So I suppose this is that once I've been looking for all these years.

Three years isn't such a long time, not really. But it is when you think that you haven't thought of someone you put so much time and effort and will into. Not even once. Until now, of course.

The chill wind kicked up some leaves around me as I walked playing music from headphones. The old-fashioned kind, not the new ones that stick into the ears and don't even need a wire anymore. Headphones are very hard to come by these days, as everyone's moved on from them, and even the little earbuds with the wires connecting to the thing once called an iPod. Now its all digital, all voice command, all over-blown in its invention when honestly the old things worked just as well. Humans never learn when to stop.

I play my music too loud, I know, but it's the only way to somehow drown out the city sounds when I walk. And I walk often. And I think.

But not once about him until now.

Maybe it was the way the wind stirred the leaves or the child being relentlessly teased across the street or maybe even the particular shade of green on the coffee shop sign I passed a moment ago. But whatever triggered the thoughts opened a floodgate and I had to stop for a moment as fresh tears sprung to my eyes.

I looked up at the clouds. Dissatisfied indeed, as tears spill down my gaunt face. I wipe them away and look forward again, my feet moving without my asking them to. Three years isn't that long, I shouldn't be guilting myself with something so.. so what? Stupid? Foolish? Irrational?

I stopped at the next alleyway I passed as I thought of him again and turned my gaze to the red eyes watching me from that shadows. So that's why.

"Dib-human."

"Zim." Just Zim. He knows what he is.

1.1

'And now that the world isn't ending, it's love that I'm sending to you.' ~CK

Heaven, a human concept. Nothing of the kind exists for Irkens, and Hell either. Those are human concepts. Human concepts to rationalize death. While Heaven is optimal, even Hell will do because what humans fear is the emptiness. Not a place of eternal damnation or a place of eternal praising of a selfish god, but emptiness. Non-existence.

I asked a human once why they want to fly, and he said to be with the angels. Angels. Heaven-creatures. An answer that won't do for me.

I once saw a dog, struck down by a vehicle in the street and wondered at the human whom didn't even bother to stop. The dog twitched and wheezed and died. It didn't fear death, it didn't wish for a place in the clouds or a lake of fire. It just died. It knew it was going to die and it did so just the way it was obviously meant to. It didn't cling to life with false ideas of healing or miracle cures, or send prayers to a higher being in ask for its life to be granted back to it, nor did it dream of another, better or worse place after closing its eyes for the final time. No, it just died. And I wondered if that's how Irkens do it.

I haven't seen death on my planet. Its not a public affair like humans make it. We don't put it in the papers and on TV and gather others around to eat food and watch as our dead bodies are lowered into a hole with a few kind parting words and many fleeting tears. No, we die where we will not be seen and will not be missed. So does the dog, if it is not killed before it can get away. Noble dog. Vain humans.

All of this I considered as I stared down into the man's eyes, glittering with panicked life departing and tears of pain only the end can bestow upon a body. I held the handle of the knife firm in my hand, plunged to the undecorated hilt in the man's chest, in his heart. But somehow he didn't die, not quite like I had expected after all this time. His eyes stayed with mine, looking into the soul he wondered if I even had.

I said nothing as I watched a single trail of water appear from the corner of one eye. The other threatened to spill but never did, not while I was watching anyways.

He blinked once, just once, and that's when I really saw the truth of it all in his amber eyes.

There is no way of knowing what comes next, and that is truly the essence of all fear of death. Most say pain is the most terrifying part of death but they lie. It's the un-knowledge. The not-knowing. And I watched as Dib came to terms with this not-knowing, understanding that he was about to know and he was terrified.

Even as the light faded and his eyes became the dull, lusterless ones of a child's sick stuffed animal, I saw just a glimmer of what lies on the other side and I smiled.

I smiled at death because I saw it do its job and leave. And I saw what comes after it leaves.

1.2

I watched him breathe. Such a simple motion, in and out. Chest rising slowly and falling just a little faster than. Air drawn into lung cells where it is broken down in a matter of split-seconds into useful substance to the body. Why is such a common thing so.. attractive? Because it is what makes him live. Without it he would die. Just like the contractions of his heart and the stirring of his blood in his veins, he would die.

And life is attractive, but death is even more so.

I laid a hand on that chest, both bare, and felt the softness of his skin greet mine warmly. He shivered in his sleep but my hand not long warmed to his skin and he settled in delirious comfort again. The comfort only those who slept in absolute surety can attain.

I could feel his strong, youthful heart beating slowly within that handsome chest and it comforted me knowing it was there, working just to help him live. I closed my eyes though I knew I wouldn't sleep. Rest, perhaps, but not sleep. I never sleep.

Do machines know dreams, some ask. Well, we do. We see images that are not real and hear sounds that do not sound and yes, we have good dreams and bad dreams and dreams that we have no opinion on.

I find that I often have dreams when I am with him, lying just as I am now with my head on his spare pillow and my hand over his heart as if I could protect it forever just by being there. I dream of being a human and I dream of him being an Irken. I dream of having a heart and wonder what it would feel like, beating against my flexing ribs and pushing blood all over my body to keep me alive.

I wonder if he wonders what it feels like to have my PAK, whirring quietly as it filters the Earth's air for my lungs to take in and circulates my thick alien blood. To have the wires that run along my spine and keep safe my vital organs.

We are so different, two aliens in their own right, yet not all that much so.

I closed my eyes and let the gentle throbbing against my hand take me to another place, that place humans and sometimes animals share. A place other Irkens don't go.

1.3

I didn't drop the flowers in, as most do so tenderly and lovingly, with their last words and tears of sorrow and longing. No, I threw the dying plants in and turned away. I didn't care to see the dirt being shoveled over the coffin or the flowers crushed by bits of rock and large clumps until they were nothing but speckles of color in an ocean of brown. Nor did I care to see the headstone being brushed off or the mat of grass lain over the dirt patch that was once a hole.

No, I could do without that. And I did. I walked away from my father's funeral just the same as everyone else did, only without the tears and kind words to my fellow mourner.

I ignored the words thrown in my direction, grateful that everyone knew not to come near enough to stop me or get in my way. I went home. I sat in my computer chair and watched TV for countless hours in silence, moving only to get a drink and piss, not particularly in that order though they do go well together.

And finally, around 4am, I went to sleep. I slept in a dreamless dark while the TV droned on with no one watching.

I wonder if it ever does anything different while no one is watching.

Maybe it watches me.

I know he was.

I felt the eyes even before I woke. I looked up at the alien, tired in a way that suggested I had not rested at all during my fruitless sleep.

He stared back down at me, a very-human gun aimed at my head. Though, I didn't really think that appropriate. I think it should have been aimed at my heart.

We didn't say anything, just stared, one in tired wonder and the other in unreadable need. There were no realizations on my part, and no guilt on his, I think. No victory either. Just.. murderous intent, and while that sounds angry or cruel it really wasn't. It was no more than two beings doing their job. He pulled the trigger and I died.

Simplicity I've never had in my life. I liked it.

1.4

I stared up at the sky, so blue and beautiful behind that city haze of smog and murk. White billowy clouds moving across at their lazy speed, grazing the sun every now and again and making the world darker for just seconds. At least, I know they should be white. Moving through this air they appear to me gray and yellow, but I can imagine them pure white and beautiful.

The sun felt warm on my skin and I closed my eyes sleepily, but then opened them again, not wanting to miss a moment of the beauties of this man-cursed planet.

The grass, what little is left on Earth, both sharp and soft. A good cushion under my head yet it tangled in my hair and tickled the back of my neck. Funny grass. I hope no dogs have been by here. Cats, either, though they usually bury theirs.

Funny that I worry about dirtying my clothes with dog's leavings while I lay in a pool of blood, which I think stains worse than shit. I can feel its warmth, competing with that of the sun, soaking slowly into my shirt and, I would swear, my skin. It doesn't really feel good, but who am I to complain? Just a human enjoying the day.

I blinked at the shadow he cast over me as he stepped up, panting softly from his efforts of fighting. I didn't feel any need to be tired. All of that left me when I hit the ground. I just feel.. peaceful, tired a little but not physically. Not like him.

He said something, I can see his mouth moving and hear the harsh vibrations of sound in my ear but I don't understand it, not really. I don't care to, either. He's just interrupting the lovely day I'm having, watching the clouds go by. Satisfied clouds, in their own right.

I can see he's angry, still, but he will get over it. I have.

He takes a knee beside me and I feel his hand close around my throat, faint, an interruption in the warm sun's rays. For a moment I can't breathe but that's alright, I don't feel any need to. Something says in the back of my head that breathing is important, but I tell it that the sun is more important and push the idea away.

He talks on still, saying things I can't hear and glaring down at me but I just blink at him and wait for my view of the sun to return. The hand leaves my throat but I still don't breathe, finding the effort of it too much. I'll just lie here for awhile, take a break from such trivial human functions.

The alien finally falls silent and moves out of my vision. I blink again as the sun bears down on me fully. I didn't remember quite how bright it had been. I can just barely see the Irken's form from the corner of my eyes, but I don't look at him. Too much effort, and besides, I don't want to miss a moment of the sun.

I hear the thought in the back of my mind again, saying I need to breathe, saying my heart needs to beat, but I ignore it. Such things don't matter on a day such as this. And if I had worried myself with such things, I might have missed the sun, which is starting to darken now. I might have missed this beautiful day, which is turning to dark. As I watch, a starless night overtakes the beauty of the day.

That was nice, a nice day. Now I can be tired. I can sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

2.0

-Response to 'Mirror' of the 'Twisted' collection by JaedtheEcho.

Dib steps forward slowly from the trees lining the pond, leaving the city sounds behind. This is his place, his small solitude in this too-large city of filth. The last place in the world, his world anyways, left untouched. Why is that.. that alien here?

He paused, just waiting for the Irken to turn and begin some ranting insults or attack. But he doesn't, he remains where he is and Dib steps forward more until he is standing behind Zim, gazing down at him in the clear water. He watches the alien hand touch the water that so burns him, rippling his own image as well as Dib's.

Dib smiles slightly, hand curling slowly around what he holds, which reflects sharply off the water in the sun's glare.

2.1

-' gallery/26927902#/d4svlzg'

When I look at you, I see nothing. Nothing I want to see and nothing I ever should have. Yet.. I see beauty, and power, and passion..

I step forward and grab the sensitive antennae, pulling until the alien winces and leans his head back. I pull slowly, forcing him to expose the slender throat. Its not that much different from a human's. I can see a pulse beating quickly beneath the surface of the Irken's skin, such strong blood flow through his weakened body.

I brush his cheek with the back of my hand and release him, circling slowly as he looks forward again, antennae flicking in discomfort. I wrap a hand around the chain about his throat and pull him forward, watching stonily as he stumbles and plants his feet to keep from falling. I circle more, letting my fingertips brush his bound hands behind his back. I stop and touch his shoulder, cupping my hand over the ball of it and running my palm down his arm.

He can't help the shuddering response to the touch and I hear his breath hiss in his throat, angry at himself. He jerks forward, clearly telling me he is mad.

I circle again, grabbing the chain about his neck and looking over his body, from the twitching antennae down to the odd feet, pausing at his eyes, angry but silent, his chest, moving quickly, his gaunt hips, his pulsing erection. Yes, he likes this no matter how much he hates it.

Because the body never lies, even if the mind cannot agree.

I release the chain and step back to look at him as a whole, smiling now as he begins to struggle with his bindings again.

And I chuckle.

2.2

"No!" a familiar voice shouted from the darkness. Dib looked up in surprise, as did the man holding a gun to his head. The boy had taken a beating and now faced death from those he owed money to. His fault, really, for even getting involved in the under workings of the city, but he had been working on a mission for the SE and, more importantly, he was curious.

He looked now towards the door at the Irken standing, staring in at them.

"What?" the gunman asked, finger on the trigger.

"I said no," Zim replied, stepping forward.

Because I am his human.

2.3

Magenta eyes turned on amber ones, narrowing in hate and anger to hide the fear at the edge of it all. Zim scoots away from the groping hand, lashing out with his claws and scoring three deep marks in the flesh through the rubber glove. The man growls in pain and pulls his hand back to himself, taking off the thick glove and flinging it away. He rinses his hand under the cold tap near Zim and flicks it dry in Zim's direction.

The Irken shakes his head quickly as the droplets of water burn his face. His antennae twitch in pain and he has to hold his tongue against outcry.

The man tilts his head curiously, watching with some intent as the alien rubs his cheek on his shoulder. The magenta eyes return to his and the hate is having a harder time covering the other emotions. He steps over to Zim's cage and takes a knee, peering in at him.

"How are you doing in there?"

The Irken says nothing, just glares murderously. His claws twitch in his lap, longing to tear and destroy flesh.

"Not talking to me again?"

Zim narrows his eyes more. He had been silent for the past two weeks, and the second week after being brought here as well. The human reached into his cage again and again he clawed him. This time though, the man grabbed his wrist and jerked him forward roughly. Zim's eyes widened in a moment of panic and he scrambled, pulling free and scooting back into the corner.

"So you do have different expressions," the man chuckled and rose. "I'll be back." He went upstairs and Zim sighed, closing his eyes for a moment of rest. He looked down, pulling his glove away from a watch-like band on his wrist. He ran a finger over the button, fearing the self-destruction it would bring but fearing this place more. He slid the glove back. Its always there if he needs it.

The man with the amber eyes returned down the stairs, eating a snack bar and looking at Zim again.

"So, are you going to talk to me?"

Zim opened his eyes and glared up at him. He tensed as the man crouched down and reached through the bars, placing a packet of cookies inside the cage.

"You look hungry. You should eat." He rose and left again, knowing Zim wouldn't eat in his presence.

Zim stared at the packet of three cookies hard for a long time, considering. He felt his stomach grow smaller at the mere thought and reached out slowly, hooking a claw into the packet and pulling it towards himself. He picked it up and looked at it, turning it over and over carefully. He scanned it with his PAK and turned up nothing bad about it.

Finally, he opened the pack and nibbled a cookie. The taste was so sweet to his starving tongue than he ate the cookie without second thought, body overtaking caution. He ate the other two.

Then he curled against his corner again and closed his eyes to rest, just feeling hungrier.

The man came back down the next day and crouched to look in at Zim.

Zim looked back bleary-eyed, blood-infused foam dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"So you ate. Anything to say?"

Zim blinked slowly at the voice, antennae slack against his head. The human reached in and grabbed his hand again, this time rewarded with no scratches. He pulled Zim forward and the alien fell on his face, not eyen trying to stop it. The human opened the door and turned him onto his back, looking him over. The Irken's chest rose and fell slowly, unsteadily. Half-lidded eyes stared up from sunken sockets. Blood ran slowly from the corner of his mouth and the human tilted his head.

"So. You're not immune to Earth poisons. Good to know." He rose and stepped over to a table, picking up a syringe and taking a small vial from the minifridge. He returned to Zim, crouching beside him and giving him the injection.

"You'll be alright in awhile." He rolled the Irken back in and closed the cage. Zim closed his eyes miserably, fingers twitching as he longed to end himself. But he knew that by the time he was able to again, he wouldn't.

The man watched him the next few hours, as he slowly regained movement and began to shiver violently. He dry-retched several times, each bringing fresh blood to his mouth. Finally he was able to crawl back to his corner and curl up, still shaking but not so bad as before.

The man left him for the night again, and he took the time to rest and recover, his PAK using all his energy as it worked to extract the poison from his system.

By the next morning he was better, hateful and angry and planning. He watched from his corner as the man returned with more cookies, as if he would eat those again.

"These are alright, I promise," he said with a grin. "You really do need food."

Zim stared hatefully at the packet, his stomach more hollow than before after the previous day's illness. The man watched, knowing he wouldn't eat.

"How are you feeling after yesterday?"

Zim said nothing. Just glared. He felt his claws twitching again, and his lips too. The human smiled at him. He reached and took the cookies, eyes not leaving the human's. He opened the packet and ate them silently.

"There. Better?"

Zim antennae twitched and he closed his eyes, a shiver rocking up his spine. He fell over, convulsing, blood spraying from his lips as he coughed.

The human's eyes grew and he opened the cage quickly, grabbing the alien's arm and pulling him out.

"Alien? Those weren't laced, what is wrong?"

Zim opened his dark eyes, a mechanical leg snapping out and stabbing the human in the chest. He jerked back, still holding the Irken's arm. Zim twisted free and stood slowly, legs shaky after so long of not being used. He stepped over the human, pushing him onto his back.

"I'm fine," he growled as he stabbed the man in the chest again, piercing his heart. He could feel the dying vibrations as it tried to beat, then stopped and the life faded slowly from the man's amber eyes, leaving them cold and hollow. Just as Zim always saw them.

He heard a sound and looked up, eyes gleaming darkly in the light.

Dib stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the scene.

"Dad!" He ran over and Zim backed away, ready to kill again if he had to. Dib dropped to his knees, hands hovering over his father's body as he didn't know what to do. Tears ran down his face and he looked up at Zim.

"I.. I thought you were dead.."

"No," Zim replied. "I've been here."

Dib looked back down at his father and curled over his body, pressing his forehead to his shoulder and sobbing quietly. Zim watched him a long time, having almost forgotten about the boy. He retracted the bloody PAK legs slowly and starts to leave.

"I hate you," Dib whispered, sitting up and staring down at his father's body. Zim paused.

"That's alright."

"I'll kill you."

"That's alright too."


	3. Chapter 3

3.0

'Take you down now,

Burn it all out

Throw you all around,

Get your fucking hands off me!'

~A7X

The human slammed against the side of the cage with a grunt. He quickly twisted and kicked his opponent away before they could grab onto him again.

Zim watched silently as the two men fought, secretly impressed with their skill, even being humans.

Dib snatched the man by the hair and threw him against the ground, going down atop him and keeping a firm hold. He beat the man's face against the solid floor with a sickening crunch of breaking bone and cartilage. This he did twice more until blood began to pool out from the floor when the man's face came down for the last time. He rose and backed away slowly, drenched in sweat and panting. He looked at Zim, who smiled in approval.

"That makes five, Dib-human," Zim chuckled.

Dib said nothing, just turned and exited the cage through the little door, where two other Irkens grabbed his arms and dragged him to his room. Zim watched as the body was cleaned up and two more humans caged. But he wasn't interested in this fight except as a formality to the other players.

When it was over, he sought out Dib's room and grinned in at him through the window before opening the door.

Dib glanced up from stitching a nasty gash in his arm, eyes narrowing before turning back to the work.

"Good play today, Dib," Zim said, folding his arms and watching the human.

"Yeah."

"I'll see to it that you get a little something extra in your ration tonight."

Dib bit off the excess thread and rolled it up, setting it on his little table along with the needle. He looked up at Zim.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, just to congratulate you."

"Thanks. Now get out."

Zim stepped over slowly and stood before him.

"You don't give the orders here, human."

Dib looked to the side silently. Zim stepped up and cupped his chin, fingers digging into the human's cheeks as he pulled his face up to look at him.

"Don't even start thinking that you have any freedom here," Zim growled. "You're good for monies, but I will kill you if you get out of line." He released the human and stepped back to the door.

"Get ready, you're on again in ten." He slammed and locked the door and Dib sighed, looking down at his boots. He rubbed his cheek, fingers running over the familiar scars and indents from previous fights. He didn't want to kill, or fight, or hurt those whom were forced to do so just as he was. Nobody wanted to be here. But everybody wanted to go home.

Five. He was at five. Half way there. They say at ten he can go home. Home, away from all of this. Home, where he can live a normal life, scarred and emotionally destroyed and trained to murder everything in his way.

Home.

A bell rang and he rose, stepping for the door. It opened and he started walking towards the cage at the end of the hall, blocked off by a single door that none of the audience knew what was behind.

Six.

3.1

The boy coughed and looked down at his hand, frowning as more of the black, sticky fluid coated his palm. He rubbed it off on his dirty jeans and closed his eyes again, head pounding painfully. Just to make it stop, just to stop it all.. His heart clenched and he gasped before coughing again, this time red mingled with the black.

A shadow fell across his way and he squinted up at it, blinking at the setting sun's light.

"I told you," the alien said quietly and Dib looked down again, wishing the sun would hurry up and slide away from him. But that was still several minutes away.

Zim watched him silently as he curled over, coughing and shaking with the effort of keeping his lungs down. He knows what is to come, and he does not envy the boy.

Dib moaned softly as he leaned back against the cool brick of the building wall, wishing Zim would leave. He twitches as something touches his ears, some sound he had not heard before. He glances up again, and around. They were alone in the alleyway yet he could hear a distinctly muffled sound.

Zim narrowed his eyes as he saw the silver shine in the human's amber eyes. Soon now.

Dib closed his eyes again, unaware of anything else as the sound grew louder. A pounding, soft and slow but steady. It sounded like.. But how could that be?

When he opened his eyes again they shone silver. He flicked his flattened tongue over the fangs and then licked his cold nose, claws digging into the ground as he stood. He looked down at the alien and stepped forward, reaching out a paw and knocking him down. Zim's heart beat faster, louder in his pointed ears as he dug his claws into the Irken's chest.

"Dib.." Zim said, struggling slightly but not resisting entirely. Dib lowered his head, fangs bared as he lusted for the flesh beneath him. But he stopped next to Zim's face and, very gently, licked his cheek. He tasted good, like something sweet enough to eat yet too much so to waste.

Zim smiled and lifted a hand, touching Dib's large nose and the wolf stepped back, sitting and curling his bushy tail around his paws.

Zim sat up and rubbed the new holes in his skin, but didn't worry about them much. He rose and looked up at Dib, grinning.

"How do you feel?"

The wolf lifted his head and released a long, chilling howl that caused anyone walking that evening to take pause and consider.

"Good. Now go." He stepped aside and waved at the street and Dib grinned, rising and padding out towards the street. Multiple hearts pounded in his head as he appeared before the public for the first time, and he looked around eagerly. They all sounded so afraid, so panicked. So delicious.

3.2

Zim stepped into the house quietly, eyes adjusting to the darkness until he could see well enough to move. He swiftly took the stairs and paused at the first bedroom, antennae lifted to listen for danger. He knew this was stupid, and dangerous beyond any rational point, yet he had to do it. For the sake of himself and more-so Dib, he had to. He couldn't ignore what he had seen while stalking the man's home.

He moved down the hall slowly, heading towards the human's bedroom. He passed Gaz's room with extra caution, not wanting to wake her of all humans.

He stopped at Dib's door and reached for the handle slowly, but never reached it. He gasped shallowly as he felt an explosion of pain, sharp and cutting, in his back, next to his PAK. He swayed and his shoulder hit the doorframe as he reached out in the darkness, grabbing at the wall. There was another pain on the other side of his PAK and he fell to his knees as his lungs quickly started to fill with blood with each shallow breath.

The light flicked on and Dib stepped around him, kicking him down even as he tried to get up. Zim fell onto his side and stared at the human's boots blankly, unable to fully grasp what was happening.

Dib stood over him, knife in hand, and glared down at him silently.

The Irken coughed once weakly and reached out, grabbing onto the human's pantsleg and tugging. Dib jerked away and kicked him in the stomach, stepping back then. Zim looked up at him with wide eyes and lifted his hand to point behind Dib.

But the human wasn't buying it as he shifted the knife in his hand and prepared to finish off the invading alien.

Zim closed his eyes and coughed again. He opened them when he heard the knife clatter to the floor, followed soon by Dib's body falling next to him. The human's wide, shocked eyes stared into his as he choked and gurgled, throat sliced from ear to ear.

The murdering man stepped over both bodies and made his way towards Gaz's room.

Dib flailed slightly, life leaking out fast. Zim flinched as the door slammed open behind them.

There was a single, strangled female scream, and then silence.

Zim watched the life leave the human's eyes and then he closed his to embrace his own darkness, wondering briefly if they would arrive somewhere else together or if they would each be alone forever.


End file.
